The invention relates to portable processing units, and particularly to interconnectable portable processing units for storing and comparing sets of personal data stored therein and to methods of comparing such data.
A number of tests have been devised by psychologists to obtain personality profiles of individual men and women. Usually, the man or woman answers a large number of questions to provide the personality data upon which such tests and comparisons are based. Such personality data can then be compared for an individual man and woman to provide an indication of their compatibility as potential marriage partners. A large number of books and articles on the general subject of dating, compatibility with members of the opposite sex, personality analysis, and criteria of compatibility for successful marriages are widely available. One book directed to this general subject matter is "Compatibility Test" by Charles M. Whipple, Jr. and Dick Whittle, 1976, Pentice-Hall, Inc. Many individuals, including persons who have never been married or recently divorced persons wishing to meet persons of the opposite sex with whom they are compatible, read such books and publications in an attempt to obtain greater insights into their own personalities and personalities of others. Single persons who become personally involved and begin to seriously contemplate marriage to each other often consult professional counselors or psychologists, who administer various psychological tests, such as the Edwards Personal Preference Test, and advise the clients on the basis of data obtained from such tests. However, this approach is unsatisfactory during the early stages of a relationship between a man and a woman because of the inconvenience and expense involved. Up to now, no suitable method conducive to comprehensive comparison of the personality data between a man and a woman sufficiently early in their relationship that such a comparison might be most helpful, since it is well known that strong attachments may be formed between highly incompatible persons. Such attachments frequently result in unhappy marriages or unhappy endings to such relationships.
Nowadays, single men and women frequently congregate in so-called "singles' organizations, such as Parents Without Partners, or in "singles bars". In such places, and on many other occasions, a single person has the opportunity to meet a large number of persons of the opposite sex who are also interested in meeting persons with whom to date and become acquainted. In many instances, it would be helpful for single persons to have a convenient, inexpensive, and reasonably reliable means of "screening" persons of the opposite sex they meet in order to get a preliminary indication of personality compatibility. It would be highly desirable that such means of "screening" not interfere with the ordinary inter-personal interaction by which single persons customarily get to know each other. In the past, computers have been utilized to store personality data for individuals. Computers have also been utilized to compare sets of data for a pair of individuals to determine their areas of compatibility and/or incompatibility as potential mates. However, the general purpose which computers have been utilized for is obviously unsatisfactory for "on-the-spot" analysis and/or comparison of personality data for a man and a woman at the scene of their first meetings. Computerized dating services which select compatible "dates" for subscribers to the dating services are known. However, such dating service organizations are very expensive, and prevent the individual man or woman from having the freedom of spontaneously selecting dating partners. Further, due to the high cost and loss of privacy of such computerized dating services, the pool of available individuals from which supposedly compatible dating partners may be selected is very small.
In summary, there exists a need for an inexpensive, yet convenient means for on-the-spot comparing of personality profiles of man and woman to aid them in discovering their various areas of basic compatibility with each other.